Mastering your Canon camera - camera modes

October 13, 2013

The 1D camera has a button on the upper left that you push, then you can either use the dial or the wheel to select one of: 

M, Av, Tv, P, Bulb
I find it instructional, inspiring, and refreshing that the advanced professional camera has the simplest and shortest set of modes to choose from. It also has a button rather than a big dial, which avoids having the dial get bumped and rotated unexpectedly.

The meat and potato modes (M, Av, Tv, P, and bulb)

Before getting into some of the modes provided on other cameras, I wanted to discuss these 4 most important modes (bulb is just a special variation on "M" as you will see).

These are the modes people who know what they are doing use almost all of the time. It is not coincidental that the 1D camera (made for people who know what they are doing) offers only these modes.

M or "manual"

Here you set both shutter speed and aperture yourself. The dial (next to the shutter button) sets shutter speed and the wheel (on the back of the camera) sets the aperture.

There are any number of benefits and reasons for using manual mode. One is that the exposure always stays locked at exactly what you set. I find it almost essential when using flash. You have a full functional meter, so it is really no different than using a manual film camera in the good old days.

The 5D and 20D meter is at the bottom of the viewfinder and reads +-2 stops.
The 1D meter is at the right side of the viewfinder and reads +-3 stops.

B or "bulb"

This is essentially a special version of "M". You set the aperture, and the shutter stays open as long as you keep the shutter held down. This is essentially useless unless you are shooting on a tripod, either tethered, or using a remote release.

P

The joke is that P stands for "Professional" (or "Party"). The camera picks both aperture and shutter. You use the dial to select alternate settings with the same exposure value. You use the wheel to set exposure compensation. I have rarely used this mode, but I can be useful as long as you keep an eye on aperture and shutter speed and make appropriate adjustments.

Tv

You pick the shutter speed using the dial, the camera picks the aperture to get proper exposure, you can use exposure compensation via the wheel.

Av

By far, the most commonly used setting. You set the aperture using the dial, the camera picks the shutter speed to get proper exposure. You can use exposure compensation via the wheel. Watch out for slow shutter speeds when hand holding.

Exposure Compensation

This control can be used to bias the cameras chosen exposure settings in Tv, Av, and P modes. The wheel on the back of the camera does this, making this extremely handy and readily available -- as long as the power switch is turned full on (to the "bent line" position).

The 1D camera also provides a button high and right for exposure compensation. After you press this button you can use either the wheel or the dial. Also, if you press this button with the wheel on the "half on" position, the wheel will work as well as the dial. Perhaps this is the idea, you can leave the switch half on, and avoid accidentally rotating it, accessing exposure compensation by always using the button.

Safety Shift

This is an interesting feature that few people use or understand. Typically you have to enable it via a special function, but it is a good idea to do so. It will override your settings in certain situations to be sure you "get the shot".

If you are shooting wide open in Av mode and the light gets so bright that there is no shutter speed to get a proper exposure, it will stop the lens down. If you are shooting in the dark with Tv set to ensure a fast enough shutter speed to avoid shake, but it cannot open the lens up any more, it will lower your shutter speed (but warn you by blinking it).

This setting is really best for situations where you intend to be hand holding the camera. If you intend to be shooting off of a tripod, you may find that it interferes with what you want to do.

There is also a setting to get ISO into the game (setting A for ISO).

Other modes

The 20D camera has a dial with the above modes and a number of what I call "idiot modes" with symbols of mountains, flowers, and such like. I do not intend to discuss these. I don't figure that I am an idiot, and I also figure that if you are here reading this you aren't either. The 20D moves "bulb" elsewhere (you get to it by going endlessly through the shutter speed selections - it shows up just past 30 seconds). The 20D also adds "green box mode" and something called A-DEP.

The 5D camera skips the idiot modes, kindly puts "B" on the dial, and also offers: 

CA, C1, C2, C3, and "green box".

Green Box mode

This is generally known as full auto. This turns your expensive DSLR camera into a point and shoot camera. I generally avoid it, but it has its place when you are strolling around and want to be ready to grab an unexpected opportunity. Thanks to Scott Kelby for this tip. A shot taken in green box mode beats no shot at all.

C1, C2, and C3

These are unique to the 5D Mark II. They allow the photographer to save three different camera setups and immediately access them at a turn of the dial. A potentially useful feature I have yet to make use of. As I understand it, once you get your camera set up in a way you like, you can save the setup as one of these 3 "easy to get back to" selections.

CA mode

This is also unique to the 5D Mark II. I don't use this mode -- it is really an entirely different interface to the camera that uses the LCD screen and wheel/dial/button pushes to configure the camera.

A-DEP

This is unique to the 20D. The camera is attempting to do automatic setting of aperture to achieve proper depth of field. It gets the closest and farthest distances from the nine focus points, then sets an aperture that will keep those distances in focus (and it sets the focus as well), then sets a shutter speed to get proper exposure. To use this you really should have the lens in AF mode. I have never used this mode, and probably never will.
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Tom's Digital Photography Info / tom@mmto.org